pinniped

pin·ni·ped

A member of the suborder Pinnipedia, aquatic carnivorous mammals with all four limbs modified into flippers (for example, seal, walrus).

[L. pinna, feather (wing), + pes (ped-), foot]

pinniped

member of the mammal family of Pinnipedia, including seals, sealions, walruses. Their bodies are fishlike, covered with hair, have four limbs and can move around on land. Their tails are vestigial.

pinniped stranding

the largely unexplained migrational phenomenon of cetaceans and pinnipeds in which the animals swim into shallow water and up onto land from where they are unable or unwilling to depart. Single strandings may be due to disease. Multiple strandings may similarly result from illness in the leader of the pod. They are also known to occur in specific locations where the local land appears to confuse the whales' direction-finding ability.

5-7,9,17,19,28,35-37) This, however, would be the first recorded influenza epizootic affecting both pinnipeds and cetaceans and could indicate either an independent, yet simultaneous, introduction of novel influenza virus into both species or an important cross-species transmission.

As the majority of our planet's commercial fisheries approach crisis or collapse, some industry spokespersons have called for a quick-fix solution -- the culling (slaughter) of cetaceans and pinnipeds.

The reports by Federova (1985) and Veniaminov (1840) are important for the general understanding of the settlement of Alaska by Russian hunters and fur traders, the structure of pinniped and sea otter harvests, the number of vessels, types of transportation used by the indigenous people, and the administration of the huge region concerned.

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